Georgios Mitsibonas

Giorgos Mitsibonas is celebrating together with thousands of AEL fans the winning of the Greek Football Championsip on 1st May 1988. AEL (Larissa F.C.) was the first and only till today football team outside Athens or Thessaloniki ever to win the Greek championship. (*)

Giorgos Mitsibonas
Personal information
Full name Georgios Mitsibonas
Date of birth January 1, 1962(1962-01-01)
Place of birth    Tsaritsani, Greece
Date of death    September 13, 1997(1997-09-13) (aged 35)
Place of death    Giannouli, Greece
Playing position Defender, Striker
Youth career
Ikonomos Saritsanis
Senior career1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1981-1989
1989-1992
1992-1994
1994-1996
Larissa
PAOK
Olympiacos
Larissa
210 (24)
95 (3)
51 (9)
56 (7)   
National team
1984 - 1996 Greece 27 (1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Georgios Mitsibonas (1962–1997) was a famous Greek football player during the 1980s and 1990s. He was born in 1962 in the village of Tsaritsani in the prefecture of Larissa. He started his football career as a centre forward in Ikonomos Tsaritsanis and in 1981 he signed with Larissa where he played one year as a forward. In 1982 the coach of Larissa used him as a sweeper, and as a defender Mitsibonas made a great career. With Larissa he won a Greek football Cup in 1985 and a Greek football Championship in 1988. This championship was and still remains a huge success, as Larissa became the first and the only until now countryside based team to win the Greek championship. Mitsibonas is believed to be the best Larissa defender and one of the greatest Greek defenders in history. In 1989 he moved to PAOK and three years later he signed with the team of Olympiacos where he won a Greek football Cup. In 1994 he returned to Larissa, but nothing was like before. Many good players had left the team and Larissa eventually in 1996 failed to remain in the first division. Then Mitsibonas moved to AE Tirnavos, a team in the Greek Third Division, in the city of Tirnavos, the second biggest of the Larissa Prefecture after Larissa.

On 13 September 1997 Mitsibonas was killed in a car crash near the village of Giannouli outside Larissa. He was only thirty five and left behind his wife and his two daughters. He left also of course a large career, 413 matches and 43 goals in the first Greek division (he played 344 matches and scored 38 goals with AEL) and 27 matches and one goal with the national team of Greece. He was one of the biggest football players not only of Larissa, but also of Greek football.



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